21 September 2022
09:15 am – 11:45 am

Hybrid format | Strohsack, 4.55 and via zoom

The publication focuses on the question “What is the discourse of secularity in modern India?” While recognizing that the dominant language of political modernity of Western societies is not easily translatable in non-Western societies, The Secular Imaginary elaborates upon an intellectual history of secularity in modern India by focusing on the two most influential political leaders – M. K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. It is an intellectual history of both idea(s) and intellectuals, which sheds light on Indian narratives of secularity – the Gandhian sarva dharma samabhava, Nehruvian secularism and ‘unity in diversity’. It revisits this dominant narrative of secularity of the twentieth century, which influenced and shaped the imagination of the modern nation-state.

Discussants:
Tobias Berger (Freie Universität Berlin)
Johannes Duschka (KFG, Leipzig University)
Max Kramer (Freie Universität Berlin)
Monika Wohlrab-Sahr (KFG, Leipzig University)

Nath, Sushmita. Secular Imaginary: Gandhi, Nehru and the Idea(s) of India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.